Have You Ever Had Problems with Your Dell?

I'm thinking of buying either an Inspiron 1720 or Vostro 1700 but I was hoping to hear experiences of any Dell owner. I'm coming off a really bad HP experience so I'm gun shy.

If you've had problems, what kind and how soon after you got it did you have trouble? If you haven't had any problems, I'd love to hear that too and how long you've had your laptop as well.

Also, my only experience with Dell is with 2 desktops and both blow out a LOT of hot air. Please tell me the laptops aren't space heaters as well.

If I missed a list type thread like I'm asking in my search for it, please redirect me.

 

My first Dell laptop, something like eight years old now, had a hard drive failure after about two years, but my second and third have been trouble free for five and half a year, respectively. Most people in my family have Dells and most of those Dells haven't had any major problems.

Your two Dell desktops are probably using Pentium 4 chips which dump a whole lot of heat without offering terribly impressive performance. The thing is, the Pentium 4 is more of Intel's fault, not Dell's. It's kinda like the whole Vista thing, where MS only wants computer makers to sell Vista.

EDIT: And there is a thread like this, but I have no idea what it's called, how old it is, or on what page it is on XD

 

Currently I'm having a Dell Inspiron 1501 - had it for about 8 months and it works like a charm. I had it delivered to my door a week after ordering it. I have only good words to say about Dell. Never needed any help from support with problemsolving... oh, right - I'm living in Sweden - don't know if that does any different in this situation.

I dunno so much about the hot air thing, but on the other hand if I have my comp in my lap I put it on a tray or similar.

At the moment I'm waiting for a XPS m1530 - and I ordered that one the 19th and will (hopefully!!!) get it on Monday the 31st.

I'm switching computers cause I want to be able to connect computer with my TV

 

I had , have a dell 5160 . It has been running now for 4 going on 5 years 24/7 and has never had a problem . only problem was when i first got it they shipped the wrong optical drive and the hard drive had a problem . they sent new comp with wrong optical drive again , the sent me a new dvd drive to put in place of cd comp came with .
they were easy to deal with back then , got a free cd burner out of the deal and a laptop that is still going strong

 

I have the 1530, got it in January..The only real problem I had was receiving a "shock" on the palm rest for about a week when I first got it. I was going to call Dell, but the problem went away!

Other than that, and this being my first Dell, I have no complaints with my lappy.

Now, that I have made that statement...Knock on....LOL

Cin

 

Thank you all for the responses. I appreciate it.

Keep 'em coming!

 

I own three Dell notebooks: Inspiron 8200 (5 years old), Inspiron 9300 (2 years old), and the one in my sig. All of them have had absolutely ZERO problems. The 8200 which was my first Dell has been relegated to my kids, the 9300 was my xmas gift to my wife and she loves it, and the 1530 is my new baby. On the 8200 I maxed out the RAM and upgraded the hard drive on my own to extend it's life. It's still going strong.

You'll see lots's of negative posts about Dell in these forums. While most of them may hold some basis I personally believe Dell makes some of the best notebooks around. Get a good warranty, take care of the system and I think your chances of having a long-lasting relationship with the laptop will be a good one.

 

I've had four Dells. A 7 year old desktop (I believe its a Dimension 4300), a 6 year old laptop (Inspiron 2650), a 2 and half year old desktop (Dimension E510), and a one and half year old laptop (Inspiron E1505). All of them running strong. The 2650 has a crack in the corner of the lid by one of the hinges and the battery no longer holds a charge, but other than that no problems. The 4300 and E510 aren't in my care anymore, but they're with my brother and mom, used as their primary computers so I know the condition they're in. The 2650 isn't used much after I got my new laptop, but still used every now and then just to tinker around with or watch a movie. Would buy another Dell without hesitation.

 

Thank you all very much. I expected a bunch of negative posts but I'm so grateful to hear all of these positive experiences. I'm sold and reps to all for taking the time to share.

 

While my Dell 2405 (home) and 2407 (work) displays, 1100 laser printer, and Inspiron 6000 have been fine to great, my Axim x30i has been a little finicky and my new refurbed M1530 is a steaming pile of disappointment and poor design.

Dell's business-class machines have had frequent problems due to cruddy components. The Optiplex GX150 (IIRC) had a massive recall of the Maxtor HDs; the GX270 SFF was prone to bursting capacitors on the mobos (manifesting as a "thermal event error" upon boot); the GX260 EBD towers had a run of bad power supplies; the Latitude C600 had drifting mouse pointers due to bad touchpads; the D630 has the most convoluted construction I've seen - it makes the D400 look sane in comparison and that one sucked.

YMMV, but with my current problem with the M1530 I'm far less enthusiastic about Dell quality at the moment.

 

You sound a lot like I was before I got my current XPS.
I had made these 2 post:
Default HP repair "Good/Bad/Ugly" just got very UGLY!!!"
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=213610

Goodby HP & Hello Dell
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=214270

What made me switch to Dell was 3 main reasons.
1. I've owned 4 dells in the past and none ever broke.
2. Couple friends I know had to have their fixed and Dell sent someone to their home to fix the NEXT Day. I wanted that next day service.
3. I've always wanted an XPS.

 

well as long as u take care of it, theres nothing wrong with dell lol....most people just don't take good care of thier notebooks and then it breaks..then they go off flaming about the product company

 

This is great info everyone!

I'm really good to my laptops. I don't even take them out of the house.

In my situation, I had an HP DV9500T DVD drive fail within 48 hours of owning it. They replaced it with a DV9700T that had a LCD backlight flickering from the start and then dead pixels started popping up in that area. That got replaced with a DV9700T I got to use for 32 days before the LCD went totally black (and apparently that's a common prob for DV9700T owners).

I only use my laptop a couple of hours a day and my laptop stays in one place on my desk because I consider it my other baby. I have a 3 1/2 year old HP laptop that I'm still using and we've got a 7 year old HP laptop still alive and kicking too.

So taking care of a new Dell won't be a problem and hopefully it will take care of me back. Sounds like I'll be joining the Dell family.


jack53 - I remember you! I read your posts in the HP forum a while back. So glad to hear you're loving your new computer! We can both be HP refugees and hopefully I'll have a happy ending to my sad tale of woe too!

 

Hehe...welcome aboard mate! to the Dell family

I have had a GREAT experience with dell. bought a dimension 4700 4 years back, and with 200 dollars of upgrade (a new GPU and 2 gig of OCZ ram), i am able to play Crysis with most of the settings on High with 25+ FPS in 1280x1024! that's pretty impressive if you ask me! (the 4 yr old P4HT 3.0Ghz processor still holds...hehe...)

Then, I got my m1530 about 2 weeks ago, and am in LOVE with it! the speed is awsome, the design is innocuous, and all the components work great, not to mention the price....

All in all, a Dell holds! While my HPs and TOSHIBAs lie in the obsolete "TrashBin" 2-3 years after purchase for their extraneously slow speeds, my 4+ yr old Dell is still able to (with some small investment in HR) play the MOST system intensive game on market today, so yes, buy a DELL, if nothing else, just think of the amount of trees you would save (well....not really...but still) by buying a DELL and not having to replace it for a looooooooooong time.

 

Well, I take good care of my laptop, all my possessions. I got my E1705 a year ago. Within the first 3 months, the battery died, the harddrive died and the optical drive wouldn't read most disks.
Thankfully Dell's customer support was very helpful and each time got replacement parts shipped to me the next day.
In contrast, I haven't had a single problem with it since. I think it's a good, solid laptop. So I say, go with Dell if you want!

 

I have no problem with dell at all.
Sometime i dropped my bag (with a Dell inside) and nothing bad happened.

 

Man... there must have been hundreds on the HP service forum that had that motherboard problem I had. I gave them every chance to resolve it, but four times was too much. You'll be happy with any Dell you choose. I especially like the next day service they offer. I've had friends who own Dells actually have to use it and Dell keeps to their promises. My 4 previous Dells never broke.

Since you take care of your stuff... you'll be okay.

Good luck and see you around here.... it is a great forum here!

 

Jack,

So you went with the warranty that has in home service? I really like this option and was wondering if it was a good choice.

 

I thought it was standard? I could be wrong as I got mine through the business part of Dell. Call and ask to be sure.

 

The standard basic warranty (inspirons anyway) include just mail-in service. You have to upgrade your warranty to get in-home.

 

Yes, when you're selecting the build you want, you can choose which type of warranty you want or you can do it within the configuration. I'm pricing a Vostro right now (weee!) and the NBD in home service is just $39 over the mail in service for 1 year.

 

2 desktops and now my 1st laptop..no probs....every company has it's horror stories though...cheers!

 

That is very reasonable for the NBD in-home service!

 

I'm going off memory now (after staring at Dell's Web site all day yesterday) but adding a second year is just $39 or $40 too. That's a great deal for peace of mind, imo, coming off of the HP horror story I'm still living.

(Just got an Email that my one month old laptop that was supposed to arrive 14 days after it broke has now been delayed. HP gets it for at least 50% of the time I had it. Nice.)

 

My wife has a Dell Inspiron 6000 and has had it for several years and has not had any problems with it at all. It has been a great laptop. I just bought a Vostro 1400 and other than a wireless card malfunction, it has been great and with regards to the wireless cared issue, Dell support sent out a replacement card the next day.

 

I have an m1730 that likes to lock up once in a while. Recently it's had an issue where Windows will not boot up at all. No clue what caused it. Once I buy a second hard drive to put in it I will restore the system.

An issue that was definitely NOT caused by me is that I have never been able to put my laptop to sleep/hibernate. Something Dell installed has an issue with the system which locks it up and forces me to a shut down whenever I want to close the lid.

 

Bought my Vostro 1700 last August. My AUO panel developed some dead pixels in January - rang Dell, explained the situation, engineer called next day and whacked the new screen in, another AUO.

A month later the new screen developed dead pixels so emailed my rep - mentioned that if possible I'd like a different manufacturer as two AUO failures didn't make me feel good. Engineer arrived the next day with a replacement Samsung screen which, while I wasn't overly disappointed in the AUO, was night and day compared to the AUO. Much sharper, more vivid, blacker blacks and whiter whites.

Few weeks later I thought I'd enquire about getting hold of the HDD2 caddy for my 1700 so emailed my rep. Next day - package arrived with the Caddy and Interposer free of charge (no screws but managed to source them locally).

I for one am enjoying my Dell experience

Oh - and other than that the machine is a beast. Love it.

 

I'm just making final decisions on my Vostro 1700 specs so I'm glad to hear of everyone's great experience!

SteveJonesy - May I ask a really dumb question -- what is AUO? Is that a brand? Anyhoo, so thrilled to hear about your machine being a beast!! Do you game? If so, which ones and I take it you have the 256MB 8600GT? Sorry for all the questions. I'm getting really excited about making my purchase!

 

Sounds like you had the top of the line HP too with the HP DV9700T CTO | Core 2 Duo Penryn T9300

Once you have a Dell, you won't miss HP. I haven't.

 

Yup - AU Optronics. LCD Manufacturer owned by Acer. Along with Samsung and LG they provide the majority of Dells LCD panels.


I'm not a mad gamer but I do get my moneys worth from Call of Duty 2 and 4.
CoD2 is not Vista compatible (supposedly) although it ran fine on this. I run CoD4 on this at 1280x720 with most detail high OC'ing the 8600GT to 600 on the core and 440 on the memory. Goes well Dont bother much with the single player - tis all about online Team Deathmatch for me
I also have Bioshock on here but have not played it too much - looks great and plays nice though.

 

Jack - Yep. The only thing the "new" one that's sitting 2,000+ miles away from here in the repair shop doesn't have is a Blu Ray drive. It's loaded and I missed it at first but now I'm just mad! The Vostro's going to run me a few hundred more but what good is a computer that's not here, right?


Steve - Thank for all the info. How do you like your Dell installed HD? I'm thinking of going with their lowest priced to keep the tab under $1500 (after discount), which is the 120GB 5400RPM and then adding a second one later. I play The Sims 2, which really uses the HD for going in and out of lots but I don't have a whole lot of HD experience with speeds, platters and such.

 

Mind if I ask why you chose the Vostro over the XPS? Have you read the review in my sig on the XPS? I didn't get the blue-ray drive... think those are over rated at $500

 

Mind if I ask why you chose the Vostro over the XPS? Have you read the review in my sig on the XPS? I didn't get the blue-ray drive... think those are over rated at $500

 

I have drooled over your pics in your sig. You did an excellent job with the paint too.

I looked at the XPS and I do like it. I'm bummed about trading the DV9700T F/P reader and HDMI port for the Vostro. I think I really want a 17" screen. Being on my 15.4" 3 year old laptop is making me squint a lot now that I've gotten used to the bigger screen.

I think the M1730 is a beauty. My child may not get to go to college if I forked over the dough for that puppy, though.